Going Scarlet
by Nyltiak
Summary: Wanda Maximoff has just been rescued from a mental asylum to join her father on the Brotherhood's Island. Her life is turned on it's head as she tries to sort out her place in the world, and the advances of several of her 'Brothers'.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter- One Rescue

The seconds ticked by in her mind, not caring if it was morning or night. The past years had become a haze of pain, fear, confusion- and a growing hatred. She stared at her door, her eyes watering as she forgot to blink.

She felt lucidity surfacing, buzzing under her skin like a liquid fire. The sedatives must be wearing off, she thought to herself. Every moment became shorter as she once again came back to herself, a swimmer gasping as she broke the surface of the water. Her fingers tingled and her eyelids closed slowly over parched eyes. Her mind began to flow and pulse.

The door opened and she jumped back in terror, her hands up. "Come here now," said the orderly soothingly. "It's time for your medication."

"You're not putting that stuff in me again!" she rubbed her needle-bruised forearms protectively. Down the hall she heard the howlings of Mrs. Sanchez. Must be morning then, the thought streaked across her mind, and was quickly dismissed.

"Security? We might have a problem here. Room 111," the orderly muttered in to the mic.

"No, I'm fine," she said in a forced calm. "No needles..._please_," She blinked as the orderly's head tumbled to the floor, shortly followed by his body. She glanced up at a tall, shaggy-- almost feral looking man, dressed in furs. She blinked once and followed him down the hallway, her bare feet padding against the linoleum.

She fleetingly noticed the trail of decapitated and otherwise mutilated bodies on the way to the exit, but she could hardly pause to care. She was free!

There was a helicopter in the front parking lot. It's pilot shouted something irritably at the furry mountain of a man, and they quickened their pace.

Her pale skeletal hands gripped the armrests until her knuckles turned white. She heard the large man speak with the hidden pilot--almost as if she were far removed from them. "She's not lookin' too good," muttered the feral one. "Real pale. Too skinny. Looks like she's goin' in to shock."

"I's goin' as fast as it bleedin' can, Vic." the pilot snapped.

"I'm just sayin', we don't want t' be giving the boss a potato."

"A vegetable?" the flier deadpanned.

"Yeah, one of those."

She eyed her visible cabin-mate distrustfully, but finally relaxed enough o fall in to a half sleep.

Wanda Maximoff had been trapped in a nameless mental asylum for the last eight years, despite her lack of mental disorder. She was a threat, even to the darker sides of society. And she must be tamed.


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Note: Just for clarification, this is Wanda from the comics, but with Evolution Wanda's past. Mmkay?

Chapter Two- Father To Daughter

Wanda sat near stone still, feeling the raw power lurking just inside her reach. All she had to do was call for it, and she could bring this entire helicopter crashing to the ground. All she had to do was wish...

She was brought back to the present when the movement stopped. She looked up, startled, ready for almost anything. The lumbering man went to the door of the helicopter, nearly tearing it off it's hinges. An angry yell from the cockpit went unnoticed, and she got up to follow her savior, shivering at the brisk breeze. Her bare feet protested to the cold concrete of the landing pad, stinging and tingling. But it was wonderful to feel. Wonderful to be able to understand what was going on around her...

She nearly ran in to her furry leader when he stopped suddenly, coming to a sharp attention. She peeked around his great form, and saw an elderly, but regal looking man regarding her. He was dressed in an impressive--and expensive looking suit, his coal grey hair swept back to reveal piercing blue eyes.

"...Wanda," he said, his voice sounding surprisingly soft. "Welcome home." she stared at him for a minute before the gravity of the situation hit her like a running tackle from the Blob.

"...father?" she asked meekly. She had last seen him the day they took her away. It was hazy, she hardly remembered it...it seemed eons ago. Wanda felt those eyes boring in to her like pieces of glass. She could hardly breathe.

"Lets get you out of the cold," he said gently. She had hardly noticed that she had began shivering-- she was dressed in the cotton pajamas that were standard issue at the asylum, and it had to be below zero outside. Wanda let herself be ushered inside, willing to hand this entire situation to someone else.

The pilot watched the exchange from the shadows, his mouth slightly agape. Never before had he seen such a beautiful woman, he...

Sabretooth walked up and punched the smaller man in the shoulder. "Don't even think about it, runt. She's Mags' friggin' _daughter," _ they could be heard arguing throughout the halls, the pilot making a fevered defense of "Bloody hell, I wasn' even _lookin_' at her, you great stupid fur-ball."

"Yes you did. And you weren't lookin' in to her eyes, neither." there was a stoney silence before the pilot yanked down the hood that was covering his face. He looked to be about, or just shy of twenty--and green.

"Even if I was, who'd want me, mate? I'm _Toad_, remember?"


	3. Chapter 3

Author's Note: I'm showing the Brotherhood in a more...familial light in this fic. And yes, before anyone says it, I _know_ Sinister isn't a member of the Brotherhood, and I know he isn't a quiet short little dude. I'm taking creative license here, having fun with how Sinister might've been if he hadn't gone all bonkers.

Chapter Three

Wanda wandered through the lair sporadically. Her father saw her once in the morning to eat breakfast, and then she was set loose for the day.

Wanda found that she had an excellent sense of direction, and despite the labyrinthine build of the Brotherhood compound, she was always able to find where she needed to go.

She occasionally bumped in to the others, the people who worked for her father. Acolytes, he called them. Brothers.

So far, she had been acquainted with Mystique, she and the shape shifter occasionally spoke, but they were often just able to sit in comfortable silence. Neither one of them were big talkers.

Sabretooth, who despite her father's warnings of an explosive temper, treated her with the respect of a colleague and kept a careful eye on her- lest she get on the wrong side of one of the more volatile residents of the Island. She thought of him as more of an older brother than the overeager Pietro.

Freddy Dukes, a shy teenager with an enormous girth and height, and the demeanor of a puppy. He was a nice boy, she realized, and always gave him a smile whenever they met.

A small, pale Englishman she knew only as Sinister seemed to live in the underground labs. He was quirky and spoke like a man of the past, and had the immaculate manners of one as well. She often watched him as he worked in the lab, and he welcomed her company- though he spoke little. But that suited the both of them fine.

He was currently re-engineering the genetics of dinosaurs he had found in, of all places, Antarctica.

Pietro, her twin, followed her as if they had been joined by the hip. He didn't seem to grasp the concept that she needed her space, and she sometimes went out of her way to avoid him.

Pyro. Ah, Pyro…he had recently burst in to puberty, and didn't let her forget it for a moment. He was a constant flirt, and a hassle to be around, so she found herself avoiding him too.

Gambit was just as much of a flirt, but she found him a little easier on the nerves. He was more charming than the younger man, and besides…his accent was so…_cute_. Sometimes she had no idea to what he was saying, but it didn't really matter anyway.

The four she had neglected to meet, she was told, were reclusive by nature, and usually only out and about at night, or when called by Magneto.

She remembered the pilot on the day of her rescue, and asked about him a few days later over breakfast. Sabretooth raised an eyebrow at her inquiry.

"His name's T--," he remembered his earlier conversation with the amphibianoid. He was crushing on Wanda pretty bad—no need to make it harder on him by telling her his less-than-intimidating nickname. "—Mort. He's a shy guy, almost as bad as Mastermind."

"Oh. So, what does he look like, in case I run in to him?" Sabretooth looked blank for a minute as he thought. Best to tell her now, he supposed. Although Wanda was far from bigoted, Toad's appearance was always a bit of a shocker.

"He's a few inches shorter than you, pretty well build…green," he added as casually as possible.

"Green? Tinted green, or—?"

" Just green," he clarified.

"Oh," she said.

"He doesn't like people much,' he admitted. "But he's a nice enough guy," he added the defense quickly. Victor and Mort fought and teased more often than not, but anyone could see they were close, close as kin.

"What about the others? Mastermind, Archangel, Avalanche?"

"Mastermind's bitter and a bit…" he twirled his finger next to his left temple. "Archangel had a bad run-in with Apocalypse a few years back. He got turned blue, and now he's all angsty and shit," Vic had never been fond of the former X-Man. Sure, Pyro had been with the Xies, but only as a student. Angel had been a full-fledged Goody-Goody for some years.

And sure, he claimed loyalty to Magneto—but how could anyone be positive? Whenever they fought the X-Men, Angel found some excuse to get out of it, or only fought for minimal injury. Suspicious.

"Vic?" Wanda's voice broke him from his reverie. "I asked you about Avalanche…"

"Oh," said Sabretooth with a shrug. "Normal teenage angst. He took a leaf outta Mortimer's book and started working on mechanics. Hasn't left his room in ages,"

"Mort's a mechanic?" Wanda inquired.

"Yeah, he built almost everything electrical you see around here…security, appliances, AC and heating, weaponry, computers, transport…"

"Wow," said Wanda, impressed. Sabretooth grinned. Now he had information to barter with the younger, green mutant. He would kill to give information that Wanda had mentioned him in casual conversation. Toad would also, he figured with some satisfaction, tune up his bike for the info.


End file.
